Low Stress Ways to Move and Declutter Your Home

Personally, I don’t. I dread the day when we would have to move homes when I was little because even if I feel excited about moving to a new home, the very thought of it is daunting. What with all the packing, moving, unpacking and putting things in place — my mom suddenly morphs into a hot-tempered godzilla, haha! Yes, not a good sight to see.

Not only is moving homes tiring, it can also be super stressful (and it was only after I got married, when my husband and I first moved homes a couple of years back, that I truly understand my mom). Personally, I have never liked moving, never enjoyed it at all… not until our recent move which was just this September.

When I first learned that the time has come for us to head back to our home, I got mixed emotions — happy because we’re moving back to the place that I love which is also filled with so much memories of when we were still living with our grandparents, at the same time terrified of all the work that needs to be done to move things there — not to mention having to do it right after my mom who also just moved to a new home (I haven’t regained much energy from that move, haha!), our daughter still goes to school, we have a baby to take care of and we’re up to our neck with work both in the office and online. Its crazy!

Knowing that this could give us so much stress, I decided to find ways to make this move a happy, enjoyable, with as little to no stress activity as possible. Here are some of the tips that helped me do that:

Prepare your plan.

With a pen and paper in my hands, I went in the middle of the house — as in LITERALLY stood right there in the middle, looked around and wrote down the different parts of the house (masters bedroom, kids room, craft room, etc.), the things that are in each part (clothes, toys, etc.) and what needs to be done, as well as the things (packing tape, cutter, etc.) needed to get things done. I find this part really important because this was where I was able to break down the big chunks of moving into smaller easy to do steps.

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“Nothing beats doing your homework so you know what exactly your problems and needs are — and the right solutions for them. – Joe Girard”

Pack one room at a time.

Once you have made your list, instead of going around the house randomly decide which room to focus on first. Doing this will help keep the same things together and help movers place things in the right space when you arrive, making it easier for you to clean and organize things in your new home.

Purge as you pack.

Rather than gathering everything in a bag and moving it all with you, make an effort to effectively purge unwanted, broken, or items you no longer use before you move. Segregate your items into keep, donate, sell, and throw away. This way you won’t be bringing with you things that will only accumulate dirt and dust in the long run and would also occupy additional space in your new home.

Get rid of things you don’t need or want anymore. Have a moving sale where you can raise funds to buy things you’ll be needing in your new home, donate your unwanted items. Why pack, move and unpack things you no longer use, right?

Like things go together.

Don’t just pack things randomly. Make sure to put like things together that belongs in the same section of a particular room. This prevents chaos and stress in searching for things when arranging them in the new place.

Label your boxes in which room they belong to with the general items inside.

I labeled KD for kids room and PM1’s toys — this helped the movers put that particular box inside the kid’s room. And finding that box where I placed PM1’s toys helped bring us adults some peace and quiet as I hand her the toys she needs the first few days while we set up the house. Appropriately labeled boxes makes unpacking a lot more simple and manageable.

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Load your truck with your most used items so it gets unloaded first.

In our case, our carts- because we just moved units. This is essential when you arrive in the new home. Having access to your must haves like bathing essentials, cleaning supplies, and basic night use when you first arrive will save you time, even frustration, from searching through a stack of boxes later on.

Take it calmly.

Most of the time, when a move happens you have to rush. For whatever reason, remember to take your time and breathe calmly. Do not try to do it all in one day because often than not, it’s a real stress inducer. Ask for friends help and assign tasks to help keep your plan in order, giving you peace of mind to focus on other areas.

Oh, and I also made sure that before we moved all the stuff in our new home I had the place squeaky clean! This way it’s ready to accept all our things and the cleaning to be done won’t be as much as we needed to if we hadn’t done it yet. Of course this also means that you have to make sure that all your stuff has been cleaned from your previous place before you put them in. Am I making sense here? haha!

Following all these steps made our recent move easy peasy! Organizing ahead of time and planning everything well has made the move a lot more fun and an exciting activity for me and the whole family instead of the usual stressful one. Now I’m sure no amount of moving can scare me in the future, haha!

Do you follow a certain practice to make moving and decluttering the home more manageable? Please do share with me in the comments. I’d love to hear and know about them, too.

4 comments on “Low Stress Ways to Move and Declutter Your Home”

Couldn’t agree more. My husband and I used to rent a place and it took us a good number of properties before we finally got over moving. I hate it. We have to prepare the place, pack, move and unpack. All the packing and unpacking is my job since he has to move things around. It’s super tiring and stressful. Good thing you have prepared well for this. I never had a plan before. I just stash them all in the box and got them moving. Imagine me like your mom, yes that sight!! That was me. haha. Now I know better. 🙂 Thanks!!

With a husband in service who brings us with him every time he gets re-assigned to a new station, I’ve sort of mastered the art of packing. I agree with all these~ especially with the first point. You really have to have a plan before working on anything else.

Hi Kim! Nice to see you here. I can’t imagine how challenging it must be for you in the first few moves. I sometimes get stuck especially whenever all I see is mess, but I’m glad I was able to do this well this time. 🙂